Intellectual Property

This week's assignment is all about Intellectual Property and ownership. I'd like to first welcome Todd Marrone, Russ Starke and Jeff Lyons to the blog. They will be contributing and commenting this week.

The official assignments are below. Please be sure to do the readings. In class I'd like to debate topics such as Shepard Fairey's lawsuits and the former Napster lawsuit, so please come prepared to discuss.

Read:

• http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#mywork
• http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html#howmuch
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_Fairey#Legal_issues_with_appropriation_and_fair_use

For ANYthing you write, please try to comment on whether you think Intellectual Property is still relevant in the digital age, if it's different how? why?

Some possible things to muse about:

• Read about the lawsuits around Shepard Fairey’s HOPE poster and comment on whether you believe Mr. Fairey was acting within Fair Use.
• Go to uspto.gov and do a search in the database for a trademark or company that owns a trademark. Blog about what you find.
• Blog your thoughts about how the electronic world is affected by intellectual property rights.
• Blog two paragraphs defending online music sharing (such as the original napster). Then blog two paragraphs condemning it.